Fxtec Pro1 hands on: The sliding QWERTY keyboard phone is back, again!

Back in the day, there were several phones with sliding QWERTY keyboards like the T-Mobile Sidekick, the original Motorola Droid and the HTC myTouch 4G Slide (see, phones had bad names even then). However, touchscreens quickly became a more popular input method and sliding keyboards became a thing of the past. Despite this, many of us never lost our nostalgic attachment to physical keyboards or sliders – and now they’re back. Again.

A London-based startup company called Fxtec wants to bring real keyboards back to Android smartphones. The company’s mantra basically revolves around updating the classic tech of yesteryear for today’s demands. During MWC 2019, it showed off its first phone, the horrendously named Fxtec Pro1, with a display that hides a sliding landscape QWERTY keyboard.

My initial response to seeing the Pro1 was a pleasant surprise. Seeing that it looked like a pretty regular phone running stock Android+ in normal mode was nice, but seeing it flick open for the first time instantly made me want to grab it. I have to admit it took me a few minutes to perfect the hand movements required to gently lift the screen with your index fingers while simultaneously pushing with your thumbs on the opposite side, but once I got it the experience was every bit as pleasurable as it was back in the good old days.

Read Android Authority’s full report here: https://www.androidauthority.com/fxtec-pro1-review-960653/